Impromptu perfection
William Timothy Lukeman | 06/26/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I can only echo the previous reviewers -- while Harold Budd's work with minimal electronics & piano is justly praised, this all too short collection of spare piano improvisations is stunning. There's an especially shimmering tone of antique glass to these pieces, an almost casual atmosphere born of a lifetime of composing & playing music. It's vaguely reminiscent of Satie without being the least bit imitative of him.
Now I also notice that one of the tags offered for this work is "easy listening." That's the last thing in the world it could be called! There's a contemplative lucidity to this music, a subtle but intense passion ... it touches the soul like a tender caress of burning ice. Definitely music for evening ... including the evening of life. Most highly recommended!
"
Meeemoriies..Talking bout' memories
Macho Picchu27 | Brooklyn, NY | 02/11/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The other day..maybe really months ago, I had an incredible dream and it was this: It was an incredibly lucid dream of me in the mind and body of a crawling baby on a shaggy rug in a foreign room, with foreign wallpaper. There was an female adult(never saw her before) sitting in a love chair watching me crawl. I felt with my mind what it was like to be a conscious breathing crawling baby. To see out of its eyes, trying to keep its neck up. I noticed the fragility and newness of my limbs. Most importantly, I (what an epiphany here, folks) realized that my consciousness now was the same when I was a baby. Perhaps even more important was the familiarity(like I had been there before)I felt in that strange room with that strange person. It was not unlike a Quantum Leap episode.
Harold Budd's La Bella Vista, does alot of the same thing that this dream did. What a fantastic album."